My adventure began with one bright-eyed & bushy-tailed biker departing for the coast:
Smooth sailing to the 101 in Solana Beach & then ever Northward. It felt great to be underway & to put together all the little test rides I had made. Once again, the mighty Camp Pendleton proved to be the toughest segment for these old legs. Very brisk headwinds & those sneaky not-so-little upgrades made for a long slog to the Las Pulgas Gate. It was here that I gleefully texted my followers that I had a mere 12+/- miles to go before reaching my first day destination. I was more than ready to get there by this point. Alas, I was woefully mistaken. My calculations were based on the data I got from mapquest & this software obviously did not allow for the zigs & zags that are Pendleton's trademark. It took an extra 6 miles to reach the Dana Point Inn. May not seem like much...but I had already chugged 52 miles & was not exactly in the mood for a whole lot more riding. So, with daylight waning, legs burning & a wee bit of a headache coming on my cell phone went off. Understandably, these 6 unexpected miles knocked me off schedule & DWB was calling to see if I was still alive since my text update was rather overdue. My spirits were lifted as I explained that I could see the hotel dead ahead & that the sunset was rather nice to boot:
With 58 tough miles behind me a hot shower & ample quantities of BenGay never felt so good. A very short walk to a splendid sushi bar & I was in 7th heaven. I slept like a stone. Morning brought another liberal application of BenGay & off I headed for Long Beach. I can now confirm that it is uphill from Dana Point Inn by the Sea to Laguna. I was feeling pretty frisky after breakfast in Laguna Beach. All downhill & level from there! Huntington Beach was reached in short order & I welcomed the awesome bike path that kept me off the PCH all the way to Seal Beach:
Just north of this spot BWB called me to say he was heading out of the office & he would meet me at his house. I knew I was closing in on the goal & continued cruisin' along until a fellow biker approached me with a hearty hello just a few minutes down the trail. A great surprise as I realized it was BWB on his own bike to be my "wing man" for the balance of the ride. He had me fooled completely with the "see you at the house" line. Great fun to cruise into town on some much better routes than I was originally planning. 39 miles today & a successful completion of my trip. Great to spend time with B&T. Also enjoyed a little 10.5 mile bike cruise around the Long Beach boardwalk & "The Pike" with BWB the next day. We may well be doing a ride together along the Los Angeles River in the near future...great path that borders the river & wetlands for 50+ miles. Something to look forward to.My return home was a breeze - Amtrak's Surfliner to Solana Beach & then a very familiar & relatively easy 16 miles on my trusty steed. Home in one piece & mighty glad to have done it -
Let's see...where might I go next?
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